Captain Eric Nave was an Australian cryptographer and intelligence officer in the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Navy, noted for his work with joint Allied intelligence units during World War II.
27 Facts About Eric Nave
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Eric Nave served in the navy from 1916 to 1949, then served as an officer in the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation until 1959.
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Eric Nave's father worked for South Australian Railways, serving as chief clerk in the office of the Comptroller of Accounts.
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Eric Nave was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1948 Birthday Honours for his "services in cultural life of Adelaide".
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Eric Nave began working for South Australian Railways as an office boy in his father's office on 8 December 1913, after graduating from Hindmarsh District High School, having received the Junior Certificate, passing the required five subjects, gaining credits in English history and arithmetic.
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Eric Nave took the Civil Service Examination in early December 1914, but came 22nd out of 26 in his group.
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Eric Nave remained with SAR, and was appointed a junior clerk on 17 May 1915.
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Eric Nave needed to be proficient in a foreign language to gain further promotion.
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Eric Nave was based in Japan from February 1921 to April 1923, and was then examined by the officials of the British Embassy in Tokyo and awarded the highest pass mark ever recorded by them, receiving promotion to paymaster lieutenant on 1 September 1921.
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Eric Nave expected to be employed as an interpreter, but instead was presented with intercepted coded Japanese naval signals and ordered by the Commander-in-Chief, China, to break them.
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Eric Nave broke another code before his period of loan service was completed in October 1927.
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The loan was promptly renewed in December 1927 and Eric Nave was assigned to the Japanese desk in the Government Code and Cypher School in England.
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Eric Nave had been promoted to paymaster lieutenant-commander on 1 September 1929, and on 29 August 1930 "in view of his exceptional qualifications and experience in certain specialist duties" he was transferred to the Royal Navy.
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Eric Nave was the first officer to be transferred from the Royal Australian Navy to the Royal Navy.
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Eric Nave was promoted to paymaster commander on 30 June 1937, and assigned to the code-breaking unit of the Far East Combined Bureau, a tri-service intelligence organisation based in Hong Kong.
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On medical advice Eric Nave did not return to the tropics instead setting up a small RAN cryptographic unit in Victoria Barracks, Melbourne.
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In May 1941 Eric Nave's unit was combined with personnel from the Australian Army and designated the Special Intelligence Bureau.
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Fabian's dislike of Eric Nave was very fortunate for us.
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Eric Nave became an indispensable person" in "reading air-to-ground messages containing the weather" which "gave away the intended target for the day.
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Eric Nave was promoted to the acting rank of captain on 12 October 1944.
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When Central Bureau moved forward to the Philippines in 1945, Eric Nave was left behind to write the unit's official history and to close down the organisation in Brisbane.
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Eric Nave was loaned back to the Royal Australian Navy from 1 January 1948 until 17 March 1949, when he retired from the Royal Navy.
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Eric Nave joined the newly-formed Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, as Senior "C" officer on 20 October 1949, with identity card No 000113.
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Eric Nave was eventually recognised for his work by being appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1972 New Year Honours.
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Eric Nave had four children with his first wife, Helene Elizabeth Ray.
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Eric Nave married his second wife, Margaret McLeish Richardson, in 1972.
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Eric Nave co-authored a book with James Rusbridger, which was to have been published in 1988.